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merrythought. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From merry + thought, traditionally explained with reference to the pleasant thoughts imagined when the bone is ritually broken.
Pronunciation
Noun
merrythought (plural merrythoughts)
- (archaic) The wishbone or furcula.
1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 93:One puts ye merrithought on his nose (slightly) like a paire of spectacles, and shakes his head till he shakes it off his nose.
1688, Randle Holme, The Academy of Armory, Chester, Book 2, Chapter 13, p. 307:All Birds want the Channel-bones in the Breast, instead whereof they have a bone, which we call the Merry thought.
1906, William Price Drury, Richard Pryce, A Privy Council: A Comedy in One Act, page 22:Mrs. Knipp. (picking up from Ming's plate the merrythought on which her eye has just fallen, and holding it up). A merrythought. Who will pull this merrythought with me ? Nay (as they all lean forward), 'tis an affair of two not four. (They draw back simultaneously, eying each other sheepishly when Mrs. KNIPP laughs at their confusion).